A short two day residency at Hospitalfield in Arbroath with a bunch of painting, sculpture and photography students from ECA in April 2018. The residency was organised by sculptor and ECA tutor Kenny Hunter. We had a previous day trip to scope out work a few months before to see which locations throughout the house and grounds could be used to inspire and create work.
My idea was to make a two-sided work that could be suspended from the rafters of the large coachhouse building. The ability to walk around this relief was one of the main aspects of the work. It consisted of two back to back constructions based on the same theme – one side was an abstracted view of the shoreline at Arbroath and the other a more granular, axonometric type construction of the same view.
The subject of the work reflected the story of the seaweed gatherers hauling seaweed from the shore to the fields opposite Hospitalfield. This employed many people at the time but was abruptly ended by the coming of the railway which sliced through their route to the fields and ultimately cut them off from employment.
Displaying the work was more of a challenge when it became clear that the logistics of hanging the work from the rafters was more difficult than originally thought. Fortunately I had constructed a stand as a back-up plan but did not have the same effect as intended.
‘Seaweed Gatherers’ Relief in plywood and mahogany in painted redwood frame.
Frame size (excluding extremities of image) 97cm x 140cm x 8cm
Gary Anderson Studio 